Utility Week - authoritative, impartial and essential reading for senior people within utilities, regulators and government
Issue link: https://fhpublishing.uberflip.com/i/476851
Greens fill in the blanks After her "mind blank" during a national radio interview, Natalie Bennett closed off the Green Party's spring confer- ence with a scripted and well- rehearsed speech. She declared that her party has "taken its place at the fore- front of UK politics" and has seen 13,000 new members join the Greens over the past 12 months. In her keynote speech, she stated that her party would not form a coalition with the Conservatives, but did not rule out playing a part in assisting Ed Miliband into Number 10. "The way things are in Britain is not sustainable," she told delegates in Liverpool. "Continuing as we are is not an option." The long standing Green Party policy to ban all cars was rejected, but their opposition to oppose fracking remains a strong as ever, as does the commitment to "call time on the trashing of our natural world". 12 | 13th - 19th March 2015 | UtILItY WEEK It's not just about going green The latest instalment in our special pre-election coverage examines the sometimes competing demands of sustainability and resilience. Lobby Election / Party conferences S ustainability. To most people that means windfarms and other renewable technologies. The more broad-minded may expand this out to sustainable water sources, and ensuring the environment has enough water to remain healthy and abundant. These two strands of thought are reflected in the 2008 Climate Change Act – signed by then-energy secretary Ed Miliband – and the European Water Framework Directive. These have enshrined the UK's commitments to a more sustainable energy supply and for more sustainable and protected water resources. Resilience, which the Oxford dictionary defines as "the capacity to recover quickly from difficulties; toughness", should walk side by side with sustainability policy development but has oen lagged behind. Recently, though, it has assumed due prominence. In the Water Act 2014, the government placed a duty on Ofwat to ensure water com- panies could secure the long-term resilience of water and sewerage services, and of water and waste water networks. The regulator has set up a working group to establish exactly what this means for the industry. In the energy world, resilience is usually translated as security of supply. The winter of 2013/14, narrowing supply margins, the spectre of rising gas prices and the escalat- ing Ukraine-Russia conflict, have made the government keenly aware of the need for resilient energy supplies. The demand-side balancing reserve was a new tool created by National Grid aer the government and Ofgem raised concerns about a potential peak winter shortfall. How the new government decides to pro- ceed with water and energy resilience – in a sustainable fashion – is key. Investment decisions rest on what choices the incoming government makes. And resilience is now a key part of this deci- sion-making process. The next government will have to decide which projects to back and support to provide reliable low-carbon power, and work in tandem with Ofwat to ensure European regulations are met to ensure water security for the future. Updates at: www.utilityweek.co.uk "The 2020 LCF deadline is like a cliff edge" Shadow energy minister Julie Elliott (Labour) "We trebled the support available to 2020" Energy secretary Ed Davey (Lib Dem) 2014/25 2015/16 2016/17 2017/18 2018/19 2019/20 20/21 CfD 58 355 917 1,648 2,175 2,534 FIT 726 834 924 999 1,051 1,079 1,096 RO 2,796 3,213 3,336 3,348 3,332 3,320 3,296 Total 3,522 4,105 4,615 5,264 6,030 6,574 6,927 Electricity policy 3,300 4,300 4,900 5,600 6,450 7,000 7,600 upper limit Note: These forecasts are taken from the June 2013 reference case runs of the DDM. The propor- tion of spending on the contracts for difference scheme as opposed to the Renewables Obligation is highly uncertain. Source: Decc 2014/25 2015/16 2016/17 2017/18 2018/19 2019/20 20/21 8,000 7,000 6,000 5,000 4,000 3,000 2,000 1,000 0 £ million annual spending on electricity policies within the levy control Framework is forecast to be £6.9 billion in 2020/21